Blackouts in Brazil, is Yemen the Beginning of WW111?

Maureen Dowd
Dana Milbank

Changing Policy on Afghanistan
Mark Ambinder
Ashraf Ghani


Good News on Military Health
David Ignatius

"The gross thing about the Wall Street of the last decade is how much its success was not shared with society."  - Maureen Dowd

"America, if you believe this country is great but you're not really into that whole One World Government thing, watch out," - Glenn Beck

"The New World Order came into being at 4:25 Tuesday afternoon."  - Dana Milbank

Happy Veteran's Day...
I always say a prayer for the soldiers who are away fighting and the ones who have come back. I pray for their mental strength and spiritual resilience. I also force myself to read the names and biographies of the fallen whenever they are published in the newspaper, I don't want them to be abstract paragraphs, and my heart goes out to their families who will miss them for the remainder of their lives. David Ignatius writes a more positive outlook on the military's health after the tragedy at Fort Hood and is considered a must read for today.

The phrase New World Order that Dana Milbank refers to was originally coined by Annie Besant, who was a spiritual disciple of that wonderful old fraud, Madame Blavatsky, the founder of Theosophy. The phrase was popularized in the 70's by my old neighbor, Robert Anton Wilson in his Illuminatus Trilogy, and later by the writer David Icke.

Now I can tell about a weird incident on how I met RAW when we were both living in Santa Cruz. I had ordered a color inkjet printer from the company Damark. They sent it via UPS with my name on the shipping label, but with Wilson's address. His wife accepted the package, but they couldn't use it because it had specific drivers for a PC, and they had an Apple. She sent a postcard to my PO Box, and I went the three miles to their house to retrieve it. When I called Damark to inquire what happened, they said that they didn't have Robert Anton Wilson's name or address in their database at all, and they couldn't explain the mishap. He said that stuff like that happened all of the time... Since the 1970's, our society has come to take in much of what Wilson has written about the Illuminati as literal truth, but he wrote it as satire. Nudge, nudge, wink, wink. His books are wonderful, they have such playfulness, and gives a prankster's view of physics and philosophy, something we could use today...


blackout in Brazil...

A short while ago CBS 60 Minutes had a report on the potential danger of cyber-terrorism to the world. What would happen if sophisticated hackers turned off parts of the power grid and you didn't have electricity? "Four months after taking office, Obama made those concerns part of our national defense policy, declaring the country's digital infrastructure a strategic asset, and confirming that cyber warfare had moved beyond theory.


"We know that cyber intruders have probed our electrical grid, and that in other countries cyber attacks have plunged entire cities into darkness," the president said. President Obama didn't say which country had been plunged into darkness, but a half a dozen sources in the military, intelligence, and private security communities have told us the president was referring to Brazil"

Brazil denied this story. Then, last night there was a mysterious huge blackout in Brazil that affected over 60 million people: "The outage on Tuesday evening began when the Itaipu hydroelectric dam, which supplies much of the country's electricity, suddenly went offline plunging parts of Rio de Janeiro, Sao Paulo and other Brazilian cities into darkness."

"In another sense, you talk to people in government who say that it could have been much worse - so there is definitely a sense of finger-pointing on who is to blame here... President Lula is demanding answers to how this happened and how to [prevent] it from happening again."

Sophisticated Hackers: 1
Government of Brazil: 0


ww 111 is about to begin...

Forget about the supposed was between Columbia and Venezuela, the conflict in Yemen is heating up and the big boys are about to step in. In response to Saudi Arabia's recent attacks on those sassy Houthis, who may or may not have crossed over into Saudi Arabia and beaten back. You started it first, no, you did... The Houthis are a Shia minority in a Sunni dominant Yemen, backed by a Sunni dominant Saudi Arabia. They originally wanted an area to themselves, but now want to dominate a weak Yemeni government, and things have been taken up a notch with the open involvement of the Saudi military.

The next move is now being taken by Iran: "Iran has said that it is ready to help restore security in Yemen, which is currently engaged in a deadly conflict with an armed Houthi opposition group. Manouchehr Mottaki, Iran's foreign minister, made the offer on Wednesday, a day after Tehran warned Middle Eastern governments against interfering in the affairs of the the Arab Peninsula country.


"Iran is prepared to co-operate with the government of Yemen and other nations in order to restore security [in Yemen]," Mottaki said at a news conference." The chilling part about this is that this is the same excuse that Hitler and Germany gave to invade most of Europe. Tehran is now exerting its influence in an overt manner, instead of its previous sneaky ways. As an example, the recent Israeli capture of a ship carrying arms to Syria. Most of the arms were made in Russia and China, so it shows the two-faced nature of these countries.

"The implications of Iran’s chicanery go far beyond the nuclear program. Tehran’s funding of insurgents in Iraq and Afghanistan (see Bill’s recent post on the Qod’s Force), as well as its steady supply of arms to Hezbollah and Hamas, reveal that Iran is attempting to transform the geopolitical balance of the Middle East in subtle ways. UN nuclear chief Mohamed ElBaradei recognizes this fact, pointing out that one of the goals of Iran's nuclear program is to increase its prestige as a regional power.


There have already been many critiques of Iran’s meddling in Iraq and Afghanistan, so I will leave that task to those better informed. What must be discussed further, however, is the Islamic Republic’s funding of both the Shia Hezbollah and the Sunni Hamas. Prior to the seizure of weapons on Tuesday evening, Bloomberg reported that Hamas now possesses missile technology with a 60 km range—just long enough to reach the suburbs of Tel Aviv. These weapons—like the countless rockets seized in the Gaza Strip last winter—were purchased and delivered by Iran."

If a religious civil war breaks out between Iran and Saudi Arabia, it will encourage Iran-backed Hezbollah to attack Israel, and it has already been threatening to wage war in Lebanon again, with Syria's help. Israel will make good by bombing Iran's nuclear facilities, all of them, since Israeli intelligence is better than ours. This sets up a complete FUBAR taking place, where the US will become over-extended by stepping into an even worse scenario. Kinda makes the debates over health care reform seem small and trivial in comparison. Such a war will plunge the world into an economic depression that we won't be able to get out of for many years, leaving the few, rich profiteers to survive, and then they will be able impose a New World Order, or the rise of the Anti-Christ, take your pick..

The Second Coming

by William Butler Yeats 

Turning and turning in the widening gyre

The falcon cannot hear the falconer;

Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;

Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,

The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere

The ceremony of innocence is drowned;

The best lack all conviction, while the worst

Are full of passionate intensity.

Surely some revelation is at hand;

Surely the Second Coming is at hand.

The Second Coming! Hardly are those words out

When a vast image out of Spiritus Mundi

Troubles my sight: somewhere in sands of the desert

A shape with lion body and the head of a man,

A gaze blank and pitiless as the sun,

Is moving its slow thighs, while all around it

Reel shadows of the indignant desert birds.

The darkness drops again; but now I know

That twenty centuries of stony sleep

Were vexed to nightmare by a rocking cradle,

And what rough beast, its hour come round at last,

Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?

Have an Explosive Good Time on Your Dream Vacation in Iraq, Dithering Dimitry

Dimitry Medvedev

Wondering where to go on your next vacation? Tired of the same old safe places, need some excitement and romance in your life? Why not visit the cradle of civilization, beautiful Iraq? Its already a holy destination for Shiites from around the globe, and Kurdistan has been advertising itself as "The Other Iraq" for years. So now is the time for the Iraqi Tourism Board to promote downtown Baghdad and the surrounding areas: "Our strategy now is to attract people from other parts of the world, like Europe, North America and Asia, after the security situation has improved,"


Key tourist draws include Babylon, less than 100 kilometers from Baghdad; the ancient city of Ur, the Biblical birthplace of Abraham; and the southern port of Basra, from which Sinbad set sail in "One Thousand and One Nights".

Of course, there are still a few bugs to work out. Three out of four hikers in Kurdistan were arrested for straying over into Iran and are now being tried as spies, but that would only add spice to the adventurous minded. So, if you want to take that voyage with Sinbad, or trek across the dried-up Tigris and Euphrates, Mesopotamia may be the next hot tourist destination.

"Most of the city is safe. Very few pockets are still dangerous,"

I know that you'll feel really safe now that the Iraqis are using the ADE 651 at all checkpoints, which has been described as: "The small hand-held wand, with a telescopic antenna on a swivel, is being used at hundreds of checkpoints in Iraq. But the device works “on the same principle as a Ouija board” — the power of suggestion — said a retired United States Air Force officer, Lt. Col. Hal Bidlack, who described the wand as nothing more than an explosives divining rod."

Is this voodoo wand safe and effective? "The suicide bombers who managed to get two tons of explosives into downtown Baghdad on Oct. 25, killing 155 people and destroying three ministries, had to pass at least one checkpoint where the ADE 651 is typically deployed, judging from surveillance videos released by Baghdad’s provincial governor." If it can miss two tons of explosives, think how happy you'll be dining by candlelight at some cozy restaurant. Paranoia is part of the vacation package, kevlar vest sold separately...

The company that makes this wand is based in London and "ATSC’s promotional material claims that its device can find guns, ammunition, drugs, truffles, human bodies and even contraband ivory at distances up to a kilometer, underground, through walls, underwater or even from airplanes three miles high. The device works on “electrostatic magnetic ion attraction,” ATSC says." I'm familiar with the principle of electrostatic magnetic ion attraction because I used to be able to buy bottles of ionized water on the Internet, and they helped make you smarter and more spiritual. Ignore the fact that no major country in the world has ordered any:

“It would be laughable,except someone down the street from you is counting on this to keep bombs off the streets.” - Hal Bidlack

Speaking of fertilizer bombs in Iraq and Afghanistn: "Afghan police and American soldiers discovered a half-million pounds of ammonium nitrate, a fertilizer that is used in the overwhelming majority of homemade bombs here. Some 2,000 bomb-making devices like timers and triggers were also found, and 15 Afghans were detained... With a typical homemade bomb weighing no more than 60 pounds, the seizure of that much fertilizer — more than 10 tractor-trailer loads — removed potentially thousands of bombs from the streets and trails of southern Afghanistan, officials said. “You can turn a bag of ammonium nitrate into a bomb in a matter hours.”


Since the military and police don't have any Iraqi shit detectors, err, magic wands to help them, it's hoped that this was the major supply cache and will severely limit any future bombings. There have been over 10,000 bombs planted in the last two years, even though ammonia nitrate is illegal to use in Afghanistan. The next step is to trace where it came from, and how it was smuggled into such a rural region. You can buy it over the counter in neighboring Pakistan, so they will probably be blamed for this, too...

end of the buddy system...

When Soviet Russia collapsed, many Russian scientists went to Iran to help with their nuclear program. Building nuclear weapons stopped in 2003, coinciding with the US invasion of Iraq. Nowadays, Russia has been playing the fence when it comes to Iran's nuclear ambitions: "Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and French President Nicolas Sarkozy issued a statement Monday warning Iran that "the international community's patience is not infinite." The two leaders, in Berlin for the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, said they "do not rule out" another round of sanctions aimed at the Iranian leadership and its advancing nuclear program."

Today they are our friend, but is Russia also sending more scientists to Iran for permanent vacations? Russia and China could easily block more sanctions at the UN, and Russia has sold them missiles in the past: "Officially, Russia has sold defensive missile systems to Tehran – though it is currently holding up delivery of a more sophisticated surface-to-air system, drawing protests from Iranian officials. "The Russians seem to modulate that cooperation depending on how things are going," Mr. Albright says, noting there could be a connection between Iran's lack of response to the uranium deal and the Russian brakes on delivery of the new missile system.


But suspicions have also grown over the last year that Russian scientists, perhaps acting in an unofficial or "rogue" capacity, have been assisting their Iranian colleagues in pursuit of a nuclear weapon and weapons delivery systems. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is believed to have flown secretly to Moscow in September to present Medvedev and Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin with a list of names of Russian scientists that Israel says took nuclear know-how to Iran." The Israelis seem pretty good at finding ships with arms going to and from Iran, but smuggling scientists is more difficult to detect. Gives the term going rogue some new meaning, I wonder how many Russian and Iranian orders are already in for Sarah Palin's new book, due at your local bookstore next week...

Berlin Wall, Jailed for Blogging, Netanyahu Goes to Washington

Paul Krugman

Lech Walesa



Today marks the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, major party time. Usually the politicians co-opt any celebrations by making it one big photo op for themselves. I understand that the current Prime Minister of Germany was in a hpt tub during the momentous occasion, which really isn't a bad place to party, either.

Myopic conservatives in America are using the time to celebrate Ronald Reagan, as if he had anything to do with it other than being President. what I haven't seen are any tributes to the hundreds of people who streamed across the borders as soon as the gates were opened, or testimony from the ones in their 20's and 30's who climbed atop the wall and attacked it with hammers. It's always the unsung heroes that make up a movement, and they are the ones who are probably raising a stein or two, toasting having been a part of momentous history.

free Tunisian bloggers...
I don't think of myself as a brave individual, risking my computers and liberty by writing my blog. If I were in a more repressive regime, like Iran or Tunisia, I probably wouldn't have the courage to publish a blog at all. And it's amazing to think that anything I could say would anger a government enough to arrest me and put me in jail for being a grumpy, sarcastic old man.

But that is what is taking place in Tunisia, who must have an incredibly paranoid and thin-skinned government, as they have arrested the woman who blogs as Aribicca: "Fatma Riahi, known online as Arabicca, has been arrested by the country's police. Police confiscated her computer as evidence, and gained access to her online social-network accounts.


Riahi has neither been released from custody in Gorjani police station, nor granted access to her lawyer. The uthorities are investigating whether Riahi is hiding behind the pen-name of Blog de Z, a controversial Tunisian cartoonist blogger whose political satire has enraged the government." In a tactic that sounds all too familiar, she is being held without any charges, and may go before a magistrate before it's decided what they may charge her with; or they could just give her a prison sentence, the price of joining Facebook...

Blogging is taken seriously as a threat, a previous blogger was arrested, beaten while in prison, and died from his beatings. All for asking: "readers to vote on whether Tunisia was a "republic, a kingdom, a zoo or a prison". Guess I won't be traveling to North Africa anytime soon...

And in Cuba, blogger Yoani Sanchez was beaten up on the street, then arrested: "Sánchez described one of her attackers saying: "This is as far as you're going, Yoani, I've had enough of your antics." Sánchez' blog, Generation Y, which has earned her the Spanish Ortega y Gasset Prize and Columbia University's Maria Moors Cabot Prize and receives an estimated 1 million hits per month, is highly critical of the Cuban government." Interesting how voicing your opinion is threatening to some countries while here in Colorado I am not viewed as a dangerous individual, just an eccentric who doesn't get outside that much.
I didn't even know there were prestigious prizes for blogs...

whatever bibi wants...

Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is in Washington today to meet with President Obama this evening. I'd love to be the fly on the wall, hopefully transcripts of their meeting will be released. Netanyahu nicely set himself up for nothing but praise by calling for immediate talks with the Palestinian Authority: "declared that he wanted to immediately resume negotiations with the Palestinians Monday and rejected the charge that he wasn't interested in reaching an agreement. "We need to move toward peace with a sense of urgency and a sense of purpose," Netanyahu told the Jewish Federations of North America's General Assembly during a trip to Washington. "My goal is not negotiations for the sake of negotiations; My goal is to achieve a permanent peace treaty between Israel and the Palestinians, and soon. I cannot be more emphatic on this point." The Jewish Federation of North America is where Mr Netanyahu was heckled during his speech, I guess there are even some in America that would like to see a solution undertaken. Maybe if we get Sarah Palin to back the meetings we can have it all done on Facebook, no need to meet face to face...

I guess everyone perked up an noticed when Abbas said he was tired of the bs and was going to retire. Every Muslim organization asked him please, please, don't resign, perhaps fearing who might replace him. Better to deal with someone you know than the gonif on the street. Thirty years is a long time to negotiate something so simple...

"Let us begin talks immediately ... let us seize the opportunity to reach a historic agreement."

Let us hope that the talks actually will begin again, because hope is eternal. Of course, Netanyahu negotiating a solution is like Nixon in China or Reagan and the Berlin Wall; it may be that it finally is history's turn at solving the Palestinian peace, and Benjamin is merely along for the ride. Happy surfing, dude...

Political Pandering of Ft Hood, New Lebanese Govt

Frank Rich
Seymour Hersh
Lee Siegel

“We’re not going to let the system go back to the way it was,” - Timothy Geithner

"As the unemployment rate crossed the 10 percent threshold at week’s end, we learned that bankers were helping themselves not just to bonuses as large as those at the bubble’s peak but to early allotments of H1N1 vaccine."   - Frank Rich

"It’s time to start asking ourselves whether our famous American freedom—in both its liberal and conservative formulations—is not actually a subtle form of dehumanizing tyranny."  - Lee Siegel

The White House leaked today that later this month President Obama will send 34,000  troops to Afghanistan. The number requested was 80,000,  The leak was done to see the reaction to the 34,000 number and let the debate begin, with the actual number ending up more or less than the first pitch thrown. The leak was in reaction to the Afghan government telling the UN and the US to back off and leave us alone! The two bodies have been giving Hamid Karzai suggestions on how to reduce the graft and corruption in his government. Its tough trying to change such time-honored national traditions all at once. It would be like asking Congress to outlaw lobbyists and their donations for votes cast their way, and we already have observed both Democrats and Republicans ignoring the calls to go without their fringe benefits...


One good thing that may come from the tragedy at Fort Hood is the public examination of the inadequate services the Army provides to its soldiers. Most of the psychiatrist's employed by the Army don't really offer any therapy, just prescribe drugs to gloss over the pain and guilt. Of course, there really isn't anything a doctor can do to alleviate the effects of such stress and witnessing such horrors on a daily basis. You can help provide catharsis, which will lessen the emotional burden, but each soldier has to learn acceptance, to take responsibility and learn from it instead of letting it destroy you. This takes at least 20 years to happen, and is why one generation of old warriors are better at counseling the next one instead of a doctor who has not experienced the same things, and would freak out more...

"They're so under-resourced that people just don't end up getting enough care, . . . I think it's a horrible place to practice psychiatry." - Dr Stephen Stahl

Of course, Texas politicians are using this horrible incident to portray themselves as the most capable and sympathetic to the situation: "Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison has emerged as the most visible official in the wake of the tragic shooting at Fort Hood, highlighting her ability to respond to a crisis amid a tough battle for the Texas GOP gubernatorial nomination.


Soon after news of the shooting broke Thursday afternoon, Hutchison was on Fox News with Neil Cavuto and later with Shepard Smith. She appeared on MSNBC with David Shuster and then later on “Hardball." She appeared twice on CNN’s Situation Room. She spoke with Jim Lehrer on PBS’s "NewsHour," appeared on a Dallas TV station, spoke with ABC news and NBC News and did an interview with Dallas TV station.


And she was quoted in nearly every major newspaper account, giving updates about the number of people dead and wounded and providing early snapshots about the alleged gunman – accounts typically given by law enforcement authorities rather than a sitting United States senator."

This is either good, solid politics or the worst sort of pandering off of other's misfortunes, depending on your point of view...

One story that is significant that has been pushed to the back-burner, is the new government formed in Lebanon: "Lebanon's political opposition has agreed to join a unity government under Prime Minister designate Saad Hariri. Hezbollah - a powerful Shia political and military organisation - says the opposition alliance it leads agreed to the move after talks on Friday. The governing coalition is believed to have agreed to a number of concessions, ending the deadlock that has existed since June's parliamentary elections...


... The young billionaire businessman Saad Hariri heads one of the largest business conglomerates in the Middle East and has powerful allies in Saudi Arabia and the West. But he is best known for being the son of Rafik Hariri - Lebanon's former prime minister who was killed in Beirut in 2005."
The assassination, which altered the course of Lebanon's history, marked the beginning of Saad Hariri's own political career." 

Lebanon is an important lynchpin for the security and stability of the Middl East. They absorb influences from both the US and Hezbollah, walking a tightrope of communicating back and forth. Along with Egypt, they probably have a more important role in  the Israeli/Palestinian process than Turkey has had. Of course, the only way we are going to get an agreement from the Israelis and Palestinians is to bulldoze the West Bank and drag Hamas kicking and screaming to the party...


The H1N1 flu virus isn't the only concern that should bother the Saudis once the Hajj starts later this month:

"Somebody should write about sexual harassment during the Hajj. Let us face it: some male pilgrims grope and harass female pilgrims, from what I hear. Do you think that Saudi authorities would address this problem?"  - The Angry Arab

And now, truly a moment of Zen:

Iran Arrests More Protesters, Olympic Memories, Muslim Mafia

Naveed Ali Shah
Sallem Ali, Parag Khanna

"Neither a "surge" of troops and aid in Afghanistan, nor negotiations over Iran's nuclear program without addressing its regional isolation, will bring Central Asia much closer to stability"  - Ali & Khanna

When Iran celebrated Great Satan Day, or the storming of the American Embassy in 1979, there were thousands of green movement protesters taking to the streets. The government arrested 109 more people to torture and abuse while in jail. Makes any claims of American treatment of prisoners pale in comparison: "The 109 people were on the fringes of an opposition-organised demonstration when they were detained. Security spokesman Azizollah Rajabzadeh said 62 are due to face trial while the others were released after questioning.


The opposition has taken to the tactic of using the relative safety of officially-sanctioned demonstrations to come out in big numbers and turn the official rallies into a show of force of its own, with different and opposing slogans... Witnesses told the BBC the security forces had used tear gas and batons. The Iranian government defended the response, saying that the protests had been illegal. Opposition supporters say the elections were rigged to ensure the re-election of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.


At least 30 protesters have been killed in clashes since the elections. Thousands have been arrested, and some 200 opposition activists remain behind bars. Three have been sentenced to death."

I was thinking how weird it was to make up a national holiday celebrating such things as doing harm to other people, it smacks of the "revolutionary" holidays created by the Communist regimes. But then I realized that its no weirder than celebrating the Boston Tea Party by taping tea bags to your head, or naming a Saint after a man said to have killed all of the snakes in Ireland... And since I sympathize with the Iranian protesters and agree that there was massive election fraud that was badly covered up, I hate these reports of beatings and arrests and trumped up trials. I also accept the irony of being angry at every foreign case of fraud, but have a blind eye to the fraud that takes place here in the US, where even the Supreme Court legitimized it...


those golden olympic memories...

But first, the good news out of China is that they will no longer beat up teenagerss as therapy for addiction to the world wide web: "There are dozens of treatment centres offering to wean youths, mostly boys, from spending hours on the web. Many of them are military-style boot camps that rely on tough programmes of physical exercise and counseling. Two boys were beaten at separate camps earlier this year, one died and the other was severely injured." Electroshock was also used unti this past July. I'm so glad that I developed my web addiction while I was an adult. Just the same, I'm going to discourage my family from reading this post...

One of the proud Olympic tradition since 1992 has been the distribution of free condoms. A Chinese sports collector: "When the Olympics hosted by Beijing ended, a collector snapped up the 5,000 condoms left over from the 100,000 distributed free to athletes. Each condom wrapper carries the motto of the Beijing Games - faster, higher, stronger - in English and Chinese." I'm not sure if these are listed on ebay, I looked through a lot of collectibles, from Ralph Lauren warmup jackets to gold medals that were not given out, to used meal tickets and press passes, but no condoms. Previous Olympics ran out of their free supplies to the horny athletes, and China had hospitality hostesses passing them out, and, I guess, making sure that they were used properly. Preparing for the next generation of super-athletes?


The ignorant backlash against American Muslims is beginning just as I predicted yesterday: "Rep. Sue Myrick (R-NC), who wrote the foreword to Muslim Mafia: Inside the Secret Underworld that's Conspiring to Islamize America, said today she is "very concerned" about infiltration of the military by jihadists.


"We can't continue to be so politically correct that we're going to say this wasn't religiously motivated," Myrick told the Charlotte, North Carolina, CBS affiliate" Sue is one of those trying to get Congress to investigate all Muslims employed by the government. Muslims have served in the US military ever since the Revolutionary War, and there are currently over 20,000 currently serving in our armed forces.

"Political correctness is the handmaiden of terror." - Michelle Malkin

Even Colorado's own former Representative, Tom Tancredo, who hates all immigrants, ghost wrote an opinion piece in the Denver Post before the Hasan shootings at Fort Hood: "The recent indictment and arrest of Aurora resident and Afghanistan immigrant Najibullah Zazi on terrorism charges has again put a spotlight on the problem of Islamic radicals plotting acts of violence. But a book released this past week raises the question of whether our nation's response to the terrorist threat is being deliberately undermined by U.S.-based organizations whose mission is the eventual Islamization of America.


"Muslim Mafia: Inside the Secret Underworld that's Conspiring to Islamize America," was released Oct. 15 and is already gaining attention from national lawmakers. Four members of Congress have asked the House sergeant-at-arms to investigate allegations in the book of double agents placed inside Congress by the Council for American-Islamic Relations." Granted, it's nothing more than a book review of a book published by World Net Daily, where they make up their own news and headlines. Tom never served in the armed forces, he got a deferment for being too depressed, good thing he never got too far in his Presidential campaign... The four Congressmen have been ignored by the House sergeant-at-arms and ridiculed as being paranoid. Unfortunately, paranoia feeds upon itself, growing larger within a person after each critique or ridicule, and transmits itself like viruses to the next person and the next person... Let the hate begin:

Muslim radicals call Hasan
'Officer and a Gentleman'

WND POLL
Fort Hood massacre
Do you believe the attack was an act of terrorism?
--WND

WorldNetDaily Exclusive
Shooter advised Obama transition
Fort Hood triggerman aided team on Homeland Security task force
--WND

Obama's response to shooting under scrutiny
Called 'a reflection of his inability to be presidential'
--Fox News

WorldNetDaily Exclusive
Military jihadists fill 'every branch'
Ultimate 5th column penetration, warns best-selling 'Muslim Mafia'
--WND

AUDIONETDAILY
WorldNetDaily Exclusive
Retired officer says Army 'missed the boat'
Warns that 'markers' of unstable soldiers need to be watched
--WND

Gen. Casey: 'This is 1 person out of an army of a million'
Praised 'medics who were running in their caps and gowns' to help those in need
--ABC News

DEAL OF THE DAY
Why the left loves tyrants, terrorists – $4.95 today only!
Save $21 on Jamie Glazov's acclaimed exposé 'United in Hate'
--WND

WorldNetDaily
Report: Shooter pushed Islam on patients
Co-worker says Nidal Hasan was disciplined for proselytizing
--WND

U.S. imam: 'Islam not responsible' for massacre
'We pray for everybody, all Americans, not only Muslims'
--Agence France-Presse

WorldNetDaily
Shop owner: Hasan didn't want to fight Muslims
Says his regular customer was opposed to upcoming deployment
--WND

Muslim vets group: No reports of harassment
Killer's aunt said he wanted out of Army because of anti-Muslim bullying
--Fox News

WorldNetDaily Exclusive
Israel, Palestinian Authority probing Texas shooter
Nidal Hasan's family comes from Arab village just outside Jerusalem
--WND

WorldNetDaily
Soldiers heard 'Allahu Akbar' before slaughter
Shooter 'opened up on everybody' after declaration of Islamic supremacy
--WND

Purging American Muslims and Republican Moderates, Putting Lipstick on a Swine Flu

Paul Krugman
David Brooks
Dana Milbank
Eugene Robinson
Joe Klein

"Voters across America are in a bad mood, largely because of the still-grim economic situation."  - Paul Krugman

"Independents are herds of cats who find out what they think through a meandering process of discovery."  - David Brooks

"But any GOP officeholder up for reelection has to worry about a possible primary challenge from the right, with tea party fanatics yelling about revolution, Palin posting attacks on social networking sites and Beck shouting treason."   - Eugene Robinson

"In an era when Twitter haiku-messaging rules, diplomacy moves at the speed, and requires the nuanced complexity, of literature." - Joe Klein

I watched the press conference by the Commander at Fort Hood last night, and the information given out there is the gist of all of the news coverage this morning. We won't know any more until the shooter talks to investigators, which may be some time if he recovers enough from being hooked up to a ventilator: "Military officials said they believe Hasan, 39-year-old major trained to treat soldiers under stress, opened fire with a pair of pistols -- one of them semiautomatic -- in the soldier readiness facility just after lunchtime. All around him, unarmed soldiers who had been waiting to see doctors scattered or dropped to the floor. Fort Hood police Sgt. Kimberly Munley and her partner Mark Todd responded within four minutes of the report of gunfire, said Col. John Rossi, a deputy commander at the post. They arrived just as Hasan was fleeing the building. Hasan fired one of his two guns, hitting Munley in the thigh, said an officer who witnessed the shooting. Then Hasan began to fumble with his gun.


"He's reloading," someone screamed, one witness recalled.


Both Todd and Munley opened fire, downing Hasan, Rossi said. An officer on the scene stripped off his belt and used it as a tourniquet to stem the bleeding from Munley's thigh.


Lt. Gen. Robert Cone told reporters Munley shot the gunman four times. She was in stable condition on Friday. "It was an amazing and an aggressive performance," Cone said."


I went to The Center for Traumatic Stress, where everyone got the picture of Hasan, but they have taken all information about him off of their site. A lot of the American Muslim response echos the same things said after 9/11. If Islam is a religion of peace, why are there so many bloodthirsty Muslims willing to kill on a widespread basis? We will probably see a backlash that will purge Muslim-Americans from professional military and government service. After the purges of gays in the military, it will look less diverse and tolerant.

Granted that Nidal Hasan fits the lone gunman theory, but his premeditated assault, carrying two guns in an area where wearing firearms was restricted, and his being a psychiatrist, calls into question Army policy of who is watching the watchers. The military has a history of ignoring problems and resisting changes in policy. Here in Colorado Springs the establishment at Fort Carson had to be publicly embarrassed and dragged kicking and screaming to address their lack of policy in dealing with the stress absorbed by soldiers serving several consecutive terms in Iraq and Afghanistan. It wasn't until some returning soldiers went on a rampage killing 11 civilians that Carsonites had to look more honestly at PSD. A similar situation of embarrassment forced the Air Force Academy here to acknowledge the aggressive date-rapes that were occurring by male cadets, and glossed over by senior officers.


good-bye to all that...

Another purging is taking place in the Republican Party, where the right wing exremists want to squeeze out anyone with a sane or moderate point of view. GOP chairman Michael Steele, never a great thinker and more interested in sound-bites than continuity, has said: "... you do not want to put yourself in a position where you’re crossing that line on conservative principles, fiscal principles, because we’ll come after you,” 

Michelle Bachman had a rally on the Capitol steps, where several thousand people were bussed in. If you were just curious or a reporter, you would have been hassled by angry and hostile people: "For two-and-a-half hours, I got the Glenn Beck treatment -- accused of, among other things, subverting freedom, working for a communist propaganda outlet, and having a soulless devotion to slander and scandal."


The outcome may be the only people left in the Republican party are white extremists with their token black mouthpiece. Moderates, and especially women have been leaving the party in droves. Leaving those whose idea of sound political campaigning is making shocking signs and screaming intolerantly at anyone who disagrees, will bring total ruin and leave us with one major fish in the pond with several minnows circling around taking an occasional nibble now and then...


lipstick on the swine flu...
Now that the H1N1 flu virus has actually reached worldwide epidemic proportions, we are running out of vaccine. It has reached a remote tribe in the Amazon, as well as jumping species and infecting someone's cat. Here in Colorado 34 people have died from it, and I will see this afternoon if I can get a vaccination, being somewhat elderly myself...  The pork industry has successfully lobbied the media to stop calling it the swine flu, especially after Egypt killed all of their pigs in an attempt to circumvent the virus. Doesn't matter what you call it, it's still floating around, being passed from person to person. We emit a fine cloud of perspiration and spit that can surround us ten feet in circumference. Hippies used to call this your "personal space," and when another person comes in contact and breathes in from this cloud, air-borne viruses get transmitted. Its kind of gross, I know, but now you know how people see your aura, colors refracted like a rainbow in your own personal cloud of spit... happy breathing and traveling!

how bout some late night political jokes:

"Yesterday was election day and the people of New Jersey elected a new governor. That's right. Yeah, and I don't know how he did it, but congratulations to newly elected New Jersey Governor, Hamid Karzai." –Conan O'Brien

"Yesterday, voters in the state of Maine voted no to gay marriage, but yes to medical marijuana. That's right, people in Maine believe marriage should be a sacred institution between a really stoned man and a really stoned woman." –Conan O'Brien

"You're here on a very special night, ladies and gentlemen. The entire balcony here at the Ed Sullivan Theater tonight is filled with defeated Democrats. Yeah, buddy!" –David Letterman

"Big losses for the Democrats in the elections. Here's how bad it was for the Democrats — earlier today, the Democratic Party was begging Rush Limbaugh for pain killers." –David Letterman

"Bad year for Democrats right now. All the Democrats have left is the presidency, both houses of Congress, and all of Hollywood. That's all they have." –David Letterman

"One year ago today, ladies and gentlemen, Barack Obama was elected president, one year ago today. One year later, we're still in Iraq. We're still in Afghanistan. But, you know, at least we got rid of Paula Abdul." –David Letterman

"Well, the Democratic Party has a new slogan. 'What happened?'" –Jay Leno

"Not a good night for President Obama. He lost elections in Virginia, New Jersey and not doing too good in Afghanistan either. In fact, political experts are calling this his worst setback since he tried that bowling thing." –Jay Leno

"Well, congratulations to New York city mayor Michael Bloomberg on the purchase of his third term." –Jay Leno

"Bloomberg spent $100 million to get re-elected. Do you realize that is the most money ever spent on a New Yorker that's not playing for the Yankees?" –Jay Leno

"Bloomberg was limited to just two terms, but he changed the law so he could run again and be in power another four years. And today, Arnold Schwarzenegger said — 'You can do that? How do you do that? Why can't I do that here?'" –Jay Leno

"Some pictures of President Obama posted on the internet seem to show the President looking very thin. ... Tthey say he looks too thin, but White House docs say not to worry, Barack Obama's one of those guys who can eat whatever he wants and still not gain weight. Yet another reason for Rush Limbaugh to hate him." –Jay Leno

"Over in Washington, President Obama called and congratulated Republican Bob McDonnell today after he won the governorship in Virginia. Obama then moved Virginia to the bottom of the swine flu vaccine waiting list." –Jimmy Fallon

Yankees Win, Worldwide Wave of Corruption Trials

Dana Milbank
E J Dionne Jr
Mehdi Khalaji

"Look at the stories we're talking about today and I think it's about a transcendent party." - Michael Steele

"Presumably, the chairman meant that his party is ascendant, meaning on the rise, and not transcendent, meaning beyond the limits of comprehension."   - Dana Milbank

Congragulations to the New York Yankees for winning the World Series. It was a good match-up against the Phillies, but the Yankees had better hitters this year. One of the best stories about the meaning of sports and the game of baseball came from Yahoo, of all places, which is where I got the picture of the Chamberlains, Harlan and Joba, father and son, hugging after the game: "You see the Yankees' $200+ million payroll and it's easy to get cynical. Same goes for their $1.5 billion new stadium, the seats that cost more than the average mortgage payment, the steroid controversies involving some of their team members and all the endless hype and hooey about mystique, aura and all the Yankee legends and ghosts.
But then you see this very simple and very real scene of a 24-year-old pitcher sharing the hug of a lifetime with his dad and you remember that those father-son relationships — one of the only things that really matter — are at the very heart of this great game that we love. " And there is wild partying in Japan, as one of their favorite players, Hideki Matsui who played for 10 years in Japan and got the nickname Godzilla,  won the series MVP...

juggling pythons...

Agreeing to try and strengthen ties with Burma, the US sent the Assistant Secretary of State over to meet with officials. Ok, he didn't really get to meet with any head honchos of the Burmese government, as the Prime Minister is just there for decoration, but he did get to meet with Aung San Suu Kyi and members of her political party. Pundits interpret the fact that she was allowed to leave her home and meet in a hotel was a sign of the regime loosening up.  The US has said that there are certain steps Burma must take before sanctions will be lifted. The EU has frozen the bank accounts of Burmese officials and they are feeling a pinch in their ill-gotten gains.

But this is the same load of human rights crap we have demanded of Cuba, and it hasn't worked there, either. Our foreign policy continues to be offering friendship with one hand, while holding a stick in the other, continuously offering the carrot and threatening with the stick. Oh, the burdens of being the lone superpower...

years of living dangerously...
The real news is what's going on in Indonesia. The government is trying to root out its institutional corruption, and has created an anti-corruption task-force. The national police force has been caught on tape trying to find ways to make the task-force ineffective, and two government officials named on the tape have been forced to resign: "Human rights groups say the KPK has become a target of the police force because it has been so successful in investigating and charging corrupt officials.
Indonesia is often ranked as one of the most corrupt countries in the world, but the efforts of the KPK have encouraged investors to believe the country is trying to clean up its act."

You might say there is a world-wide wave trying for more honest and decent governments. Maybe the result of the Iranian green movement? Despite heavy military, police, and thug presence on the streets yesterday, tens of thousands anti-government protesters took to those same streets and braved getting beaten up and tear-gassed. It was supposed to celebrate taking over the US Embassy in 1979, but the clashing  groups tended to cancel out any sponsored celebration. Many of the dissidents have expressed their displeasure that we are trying to engage with an illegitimate government, preferring that we brandish the stick at the Ayatollah...

Anti-corruption trials are taking place in Argentina, China, and France. Many old soldiers are coming forward in Argentina and confessing to torture and crime committed during the military junta's rule, a last confession for them in a Catholic way. The last dictator is being taken to trial in a soccer stadium, to hold all of the  many observers: " A trial began on Monday for Argentina’s last dictator, Reynaldo Bignone, a retired general, as well as for five former generals and two others who are accused of kidnappings and murders that prosecutors say took place in the Campo de Mayo military base.


General Bignone is accused of holding ultimate responsibility for myriad cases of torture, illegal break-ins and deprivations of human rights from 1976 to 1978, before he was appointed president by the military junta in the waning years of the dictatorship."

Its sad to see even friendly foreign leaders dragged to trial. The former French Prime Minister is also going to trial: "Jacques Chirac, the former French president, has been ordered to stand trial on embezzlement charges over accusations he rewarded cronies with payments for non-existent jobs while mayor of Paris. If the case goes ahead it will make Chirac the first holder of France's highest office to face a corruption trial. Chirac was mayor of the French capital between 1977 and 1995 before being elected to the Elyseé for 12 years. He is accused of having used his position as mayor to award 21 "ghost" contracts to his political aides and paying them from the city payroll.


Upon hearing news of Simeoni's recommendation, Chirac declared himself to be "serene" and "determined to prove" that the allegations are false."

With the upcoming trials of corruption by political leaders in Russia and Israel, take heart America, there is still time to catch the wave and bring Dick Cheney and cronies to justice..